Monday, September 9, 2013

We are beginning to settle into our fall routine. For Eric and me -- this is little changing. But, for Kailey, it's a big transition.

It's not really about starting kindergarten. After all, Kai has been in a very school-like setting for the entire last year. And, it's not the long days. Kai has been doing all day daycare (as in 9 - 10 hour days) since she was a year old.

Rather, it's the fact that she no longer has one program/setting that she is in from drop-off until pick-up. Her routine is really varied -- a necessity since kindergarten gets out at 2:15 (and they call that "full day" kindergarten. Not in the working world it's not!) So, she's done with school at 2:15, but there is no one to pick her up for nearly 4 more hours.

Thornhill has a great enrichment program -- various after school classes that are offered to provide the children with various experiences (dance, music, languages, arts, science, etc) and there is also Adventure Time (which is a lot like daycare -- it's pretty much free time in one of the classrooms or on the play equipment outside). I didn't want Kai to just have playtime -- so, we've cobbled together enrichment classes, Adventure Time, and Creative Spanish (the after school spanish class that her preschool teacher runs).

What this really means is that every day, Kai has a different schedule. I find it disorienting and worry about how she is adjusting to moving from one class to another and -- three days of week -- getting picked up by various people (I also had to cobble together a transportation schedule) and going to Creative Spanish.

This morning after dropping Kai off, I was kicking myself because I forgot to go over her schedule for the day. But -- in usual Kailey fashion-- she is rolling with the busy schedule. And, she LOVED hip hop today. Hopefully she'll love Drama and Club Jam as much as she liked hip hop.

But, seriously -- for five, this kid is busy. Hip Hop, Creative Spanish, Drama & Storytelling, Club Jam, soccer and swimming. In addition to full-day kindergarten and homework most evenings. Right now Kai is chilling with a PBS show (after spending the evening helping me with a variety of chores with nary a complaint).

I get frustrated sometimes by whining or her spaz attacks --but, when I look at how much she does and think about how WELL she does, I am really amazed by her adaptability, her willingness to jump into new activities, and her incredibly good-natured attitude. She is such a great kid.